Wrestling Warm Up Drills

In the ancient Greco-Roman tradition, wrestling warm up drills are very important. Warm up drills get your body's systems going, your blood flowing, and your body ready for the upcoming challenges. Warm up drills vary by both intensity and complexity; we will go over a wide variety of complex, simplistic, intense, and light exercises below.

Synchronized stretches. An absolute don't in wrestling is walk into a match without stretching. Part of your team's wrestling warm up drills should most definitely be a series of synchronized stretches. Lift your leg backwards and grab it from behind to stretch your quadriceps, touch your toes to stretch those calves, do some windmills to get your core moving, etc., etc.

The generalized warm up drills. These warm up drills are designed to specifically target all of the critical systems, body parts, and muscles involved in wrestling, albeit with low intensity. A series of pushups, situps, pull ups, lunges, and other light exercises will be performed one after another, so as to fire up every crucial area of the body. A short run afterwards is appropriate.

The specified warm up drills. These warm up drills aren't recommended for the novice wrestler, but are appropriate if you are going to have a specified workout session. Try to focus on punch-bad tackles if you are doing takedowns for the day, etc. Keep it light to moderate.

Dynamic warm ups. In athletic terms, dynamic warm up drills are those which push your body beyond its usual range of motion. Dynamic warm ups are to be kept to a minimum, as over-extending is quite common. Dynamic warm up drills can also be applied to stretches.

Static warm ups. These warm up drills engage the body's systems in safe, effective exercises. Going down into the push-up position and holding it for a period of a minute or so is an example of a static warm up.

There are a great variety of wrestling warm up drills out there, and some aren't designed for newcomers. For example, dynamic warm ups should be confined to those with advanced experience in amateur/club wrestling. Good luck, and always start with stretches!